Monday, March 2, 2009

Eugenics wrapped up in a new package

Last week I attended a congress in Rome on the issues related to the new eugenics. Eugenics is a philosophy concerning racial hygiene or the purification of the human race. Eugenics rears its ugly head in issues of moral ethics today. For instance the Groningen Protocol in the Netherlands that allows for the killing of newborns with disabilities is eugenic. Also decisions to deny a person with a disability beneficial medical treatment because of the disability.

Hitler believed in eugenics and therefore instituted the euthanasia policy that led to the deaths of thousands of people with disabilities, and also the attempted elimination of people of the Jewish race. Millions of people died in Nazi Germany due to the instigation of the eugenic philosophy.

Most people agree that we should never return to that dark time in human history. Yet, today we have the new promotion of eugenics, except that it is now wrapped in a new package.

An article from the BBC News explains how a fertility clinic is now charging a special fee to select the traits that parents prefer for their children.

The clinic does not guarantee perfect success all the time, but their techniques improve the chances of parents designing their baby.

The concept of Eugenics is like a pandora's box. Everyone dreams of the perfect child and scientists seem to be striving to eliminate the imperfect human genes. But what will this mean for people born with disabilities or other imperfections? Will these people be viewed as less than human? Will we decide to euthanize people with disabilities to save them from their "suffering?"

I am not suggesting that this represents a slippery slope, I am telling you that we have slipped down the slope and we are now looking up at our inhumane decisions.